16

Overnight Train and Sore Legs

Location: Xi'an

We woke up after an overnight train, and even though I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep, the rest of the group said they slept fine. Then we got to settle into the hotel for 2 hours and ate breakfast. After that, we went to go bike around the Xi’an City Wall. Some biked the whole distance, some biked halfway, and some only biked for a few minutes before heading back due to the 100-degree weather. After that, we did some calligraphy with a very nice man, and all I have to say is that it was very hard and much respect to anyone who can actually do that. Since I struggled way too much with the calligraphy, the world was instead blessed with my dear creation Bird Man (Evan will insert a photo somewhere of my drawing). After that, we went to Muslim street where we all bargained and collected many fake designer items or just cool small trinkets. I think I can safely say that most of us are bargaining EXPERTS. We scavenged for our own dinners there and explored a mall for a little. It was an eventful day, and I am ready to go to sleep, so I am ending this now. Goodnight.- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -Here are some fun facts provided to you by Jake: Population Density inside walls — 4x Manhattan Population Density total city — 50x less than Manhattan population total city size — 7000 km^2City size inside wall — 5km^2Population inside city walls, 3 million population outside city walls, 9 million***Only city wall fully intact from one end all the way around the other in the entirety of China***